May (Web-only) 2002

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President George W. Bush made two announcements in his televised speech on August 9, 2001. First, he would permit federal funding for experiments on stem cells derived from human embryos, but only on cells derived from embryos already killed by August 9. Second, he would appoint a Presidential Advisory Council on Bioethics, led by Leon Kass, to review this and other issues.

Longtime professor on the University of Chicago's prestigious Committee on Social Thought, Kass is an M.D. with a Ph.D. in biochemistry who has a background in National Institutes of Health research. He was a founding member of the board of the Hastings Center, the nation's premier bioethics think tank. I met with Kass at his American Enterprise Institute office in Washington. (Kass noted that his comments do not reflect the position of the federal government.)

Last August, before that fateful day September 11, the biggest issue in American public and political life was bioethics. And people were saying that the defining issue of the Bush presidency would be the President's view on embryo stem cell experiments. It's hard now to remember the context in which the President's televised speech to the nation, on August 9, was focused not on Al Qaeda but on embryos. In that speech he said he would establish an advisory council on bioethics, and he named you as its chair. That raised huge expectations for many of us, as we see these issues as the most important challenges facing the human race. Tell me how you see the potential of the council, its task, and your own opportunity as the one who was named to lead it.

I do think that the biological revolution, of which we have seen only the very earliest stages, is a matter of momentous and lasting importance. Extraordinary ...